Canceled Mud Run Series Will Offer Some Refunds

The organizers of a national series of 5-K mud runs that were abruptly canceled—infuriating runners who had already paid their fees—now say they’ll give refunds to about half the people who entered.

But the race director of the Great American Mud Run says there’s not enough money left to return the entry fees to everyone.

Race director John Brown says the company canceled the events in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas earlier this week simply because too few people registered.

“We wanted to put on these events,” he said. “We’re just some guys who tried to put on a mud run. But not enough people signed up to be able to financially do it.”

Those who registered paid between $65 and $89 apiece, depending on when they registered and for which event. Venue operators say they also lost out.

The resulting anger has spilled over into formal consumer complaints in at least two of the states from runners who, on Monday, received a cryptic email from the race series, in some cases saying that the events were postponed and then finally announcing they were canceled.

“We hoped to provide a great race experience that is both entertaining and safe, but unfortunately we cannot,” the email said. “As per our refund policy we do not offer refunds for any reason, to include event cancellation.”

The email said no emails or telephone calls would be accepted, and the series’ website promptly went dark. A bare-bones version of the site[4] reappeared on Thursday with an explanation of the cancellations.

Brown conceded that he and his fellow organizers “probably could have handled it a little better.”

“Everyone was justified to be unhappy,” he said. “We let people down. There’s no question about that.”

The Reston, Virginia-based Great American Mud Runs set up its website on May 16, 2012, and was incorporated on July 9 of that year, according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

Under the motto “America’s muddiest 5K obstacle course race,” it portrayed itself as an answer to the fact that, “With the growing number of adventure challenge races flooding the market, it’s tough to tell which ones are worthy of spending your hard earned money and time on.”

The promotional material also prominently included the standard disclaimer, “The Great American Mud Run does not issue refunds for any reason.”

The first event, a 13-obstacle 5-K in Chesapeake, Virginia, drew 2,000 participants. The last that was held was on August 24 in Pattersonville, New York.

Subsequent installments were scheduled for September 14 in Hocking Hills, Ohio; September 28 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania; October 12 in Forney, Texas; and November 2 in Manchester, Tennessee.

All four were abruptly canceled—in the case of the Ohio run, a week beforehand.

“There was no communication,” said Bill Kaeppner, on whose 200-acre property the Ohio run was scheduled to take place. He says he lost out on not only the race, but also weeks of potential rentals.

“Basically we held four months open for them,” Kaeppner said.

Kaeppner said he mailed brochures to local businesses and gyms, and spent his own money to get the word out.

“We wanted to see it go. We didn’t want to see it fail,” he said.

Yet even as he stopped getting his calls returned from the organizers, Kaeppner said, they were still accepting registrations.

“That’s the part I thought was poor,” he said.

So do many runners. Eighteen have filed formal complaints with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, spokeswoman Kate Hanson said. Five formal complaints have been filed with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Division of Consumer Affairs, and 15 other runners have made inquiries, said Kate Abernathy, a spokeswoman for that agency, which has begun an investigation. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said it doesn’t comment on whether consumer complaints have been received.

Others are taking out their frustrations online.

“Total scam,” reads one comment, from Ohio. “This makes me want to not sign up for any race.”

“Scammed out of my money. Scammed out of my training. Scammed out of a good time with friends,” says another. “Shame on those people,” another Ohio runner writes. And yet another: “I hope someone holds these people responsible for the thousands of dollars they have stolen.”

Brown said a little more than 200 runners signed up for the Pennsylvania race and about 400 for the event in Ohio before the plug was pulled.

After initially saying it would make no refunds, the company now will return the entry fees of more than 100 people who registered for the Pennsylvania race, and 200 of the 400 registrants in Ohio, Brown said.

But Brown said there’s no money left to return more.

“Almost everyone has a no-refund policy,” Brown said. “There’s a massive amount of upfront costs, from the equipment rental to the massive amount of marketing. There’s just a whole lot of upfront costs.”

He said the company plans no future events “unless the rest of the people can be given refunds. We’re working on trying to raise some funds to refund people.”

Abernathy, of the Tennessee consumer office, said there’s a moral to the story.

“What we always tell consumers is that, every time they click ‘I agree to the terms and conditions,’ it is really important to look through that document and know what it entails, so it doesn’t come as a surprise.”